Apparatus for manufacturing pile fabric, such as carpet



June 1945.

G. NlKl APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FILE FABRIC, SUCH AS CARPET Filed July 20, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTCR. GENKICHI N/Kl A: I ATTORNEYS.

June 19, 1945. G. NlKl 27,378,574?

APPARATUS FQRMANUFACTURING 'PILE FABRIC, SUCH ASCARPE'I'III' Filed July 20, 1940 e Sheets-She et 2 I INVENIUR.

' GENK/Cl-ll, N/K/ 2MYM ATTORNEYS e. NlKl 2,378,574

SUCH AS CARPET June 19, 1945.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FILE FABRIC Filed July 20, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENIUR. GENK/(Hl N/K/ ATYDRNEYS.

June 19, 1945. N|K| 2,378,574

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING; FILE FABRIC, SUCH AS CARPET Filed July 20, 1940 6 sheets -sheet 4 G. Nl-Kl 2,378,574-

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FILE FABRIC, SUCH AS CARPET 7 June 19, 1945.

6 heets-Sheet 5 Filed July 20, 1940 INVENTOR. GENK/CH/ N/K/ v ATTORNEYS G. NlKi June 1 9, 1945.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FILE FABRIC, SUCH AS CARPET Filed July 20 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Eli-E:

. mm (M N/ 1N ,N. a

Patented June 19, 1945 UNITED j STATES ,IPATEN'I" OFFICE.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING rim FABRIC, SUCH As mm Genkichi Niki, Shibuyaku, Tokyo, Japan;

in the Alien Property Custodian vested Application July 20, 1940, Serial No. 346,496

3 Claims. (Cl. 154-1) The present inventionrelates to anew and improved process and apparatus for manufacturing pile fabrics, such as" carpet.

'one object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for manufacturing pile fabric which will provide each carpet with a different design and in which the finished product will have the advantages of a hand-woven fabric.

' Another object of the present invention is to provide a new process and apparatus which is adapted to produce fabric of any predetermined size or shape.

Another object of the present invention is to desired size or shape having a wide breadth and short roots of pile in a simple manner by eml rloying reduced original designs and slender ars.v Y

Other objects and advantagesof the present invention will become more apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 Ha front view of the apparatus, Fig. 2 a

plan view of the same and also showing a design sheet 3211 attached to the design cylinder 32. Fig.

1 2Ais a plan view of the designsheet 'detafihed from the vcylinder, Fig. 3 a front view similar to the lower portion of Fig. 1 of a friction clutch, Fig. 4 a plan view of the same, Fig. 5 a detail longitudinal section showing a-mechanism for rotating bars around which threads are wound. Fig. 6 across section of the same, Fig. 'I a detail longitudinal section of a mechanism for moving a rack, Fig. 8 a front view of an apparatus for feedingand rotating a cylinder, Fig. 9 a

plan view of the same, Fig. 10 an elevational view, seen from the left, of certain parts which around which threads are wound, Fig. 14 across section of the same, Fig. 15 a plan view showing how the bars are set on edges in parallel and put in a frame, Fig. 16 a longitudinal section of the same, and Fig. 17 a sectional view showin how-the bars and associated thread windings are assembled upon a lining, and also how the bars are subsequently removed while cutting the windings.

Referring to the drawingstubes 10. II and it are arranged in a straight line with suitable spaces between them. The ,tubes Ill and II are v mounted on rotatable bearings 55 and the tube It is supported by supports 51.

The tubes Ill and II are driven from a shaft H by means of gears 1', 8' and 9' and 1,! and 9 respectively, said shaft, in turn, being driven by a motor. The tube III is adapted to receive two slender bars I) joined together, (Figs. 1, 7,

12 and 13) on which=,thre ads 52' are wound, the left ends of the bars being inserted in the tube ll. At the end of the tube I0 is screwed a cap l2 having a rectangular hole through which the bars I! move, (Figs. 5 and 6) thereby enabling the latter to rotate together with the tubes l0 and, In tube It is'inserted a rack It which is driven from 'a shaft II by means of gears 21, 25 and 20 and a pinion 22 on which a clutch 23 is'provided (Figs. 2 and 11). At the end of the rack It a cap ii is mounted rotatably and' adapted to be inserted in the tube Ill 50 that the rackmoves forwardin a straight line without friction with the tube It (Fig. 7).

- The right hand end of the bars I: is engaged by the cap I! and the bars are pushed thereby to the left, thus enabling threads 52 of yarn to be wound around the bars at a point between the tubes l0 and II. As the rotating bars move to the left in-Fig. 2 past the winding point, the thread will be-distended along the length of the bars, At the right hand end of the rack It a appear on Fig. 2 and taken along'line 'AA,'Fig.

7 ii a view looking at the right end of Fig. 2,

enewini er clutch and transmission mechanism for the cylinder and bars, Fig. 12 a plan view of [the same, Fig. 13 a perspeptive view of the weight 24 is hung so, that the rack returns to its original position as soon as the clutch 23 is dis- .engaged in a manner to be later described.

The cylinder 32' is slidably moupted on-a shaft provided with agroove 3| for a irey (Fig. 10). One end of a handle ,34 is-secured iifi a screw rod 35 and the other end of said handle is fitted in acircular' groove 33- provided along the periph ery'of the end portion of the cylinderv 12'. The cylinder 32 is rotated by means of the shaft 30 and the mechanism mentioned hereinafter. It

can also be moved to the left by means of the handle in a step by step manner.

barsfl' At the right hand end'Toi the shaft), there is provided a clutch 2! and a worm gear 20 adapted to engage a worm 21 provided at the rear end of the shaft :5, (Figs. 2 and 11). ,At

' the left hand end of shaft 30, there is provided a clutch ill and a gear 33, said gear 38 driving screw rod 35 by means of gears 33, 3'! and 38. At the outer extremityof the left hand and of the shaft 30, there isprovided a weight ll.

The clutches 29 and ll have teeth cutopposite to each other, and the motive power is transmitted to the Worm gear 28 through the shaft 26 from gear 25, and thus the shaft 30 and associated cylinder 32 are rotated in a counter clockwise direction in Fig. 10. While the cylinder 32 is rotated, the clutch III is disengaged. The engaging teeth of the clutch ll will ratchet over each other due to the pitch of the teeth in the respective clutch faces. Therefore, the screw rod 3! will not be rotated to advance cylinder 32 longitudinally on shaft 33, however the weight ll will be lifted as cord a is wound around drum b fixed on shaft 30, whenv the clutch 29 is disengaged and the shaft 30 is rotated in opposite direction by the action of the descending weight II. The cyhnder 32 also rotates in the opposite direction until claw It engages stop 33, at which time the cylinder 32 occupies its original position.

While the cylinder is returning to original position, the teeth of the clutch II will engage each other and then rotate the screw rod 3! through the gears 30, 38, 31 and 33, and these sears will advance handle 34 and cylinder 32 along shaft 30 to the left a distance equal to the space between adjacent columns, for example, the distance between columns a and b on design sheet 32a. Hence, the position of the original design on the cylinder 32 changes in coniunctio with the stationary indicator ll. a

A motor I is connected with the shaft I! by means of a belt 2, friction clutch 3 and I and wheels land I. The friction clutch is connected with a pedal ll through levers ll and 43. When the pedal I is engaged, the power is transmitted to the shaft I! through the friction clutch, and

the tubes Iii and II and thebars l3 arerotated and, while the cylinder is rotating to its original position, as shown in Fig. 10, the cylinder is also advanced to the left along shaft to position vanced longitudinally to present the succeeding columns beneath the indicator 5|.

To work the apparatus shown, the left hand portion of the bars I3 is brought into place between the tubes l0 and II and the cylinder 32 is brought to a suitable position at the right hand end portion of its shaft so that the first column a on the left of the original design sheet 32a is disposed opposite the indicator 6!.

Power is then transmitted to the shafts i1 and 32 to rotate the bars and cylinder. The bars ii are rotated at a speed of about 1,500 revolutions per minute while they are moved forward from the tube ll so that the threads 52 are wound around the bars.

By referring to Figs. 2 and 2A, it will be noted that the lower portion of column a is blue and the upper portion is green. When the design sheet-32a is'placed upon'cylinder 32 and the cylinder is in initial starting position, the lower edge of column a (Fig. 2A) is disposed opposite the pointer 8|. This will indicate to the operator that a blue thread is to be wound upon the rotat- 40 ing axially advancing bars I3. When the green through the shaft I1, gears I, I and l and I, 3',

rack II and bars l3, 0. colored thread 32 is fed by hand to the bar l3 between the tubes II {and I! corresponding to the colors on sheet 320 disposed beneath the indicator ll. Of course, the thread must be fastened at the left end of the bar to start winding operations, and when it is necessary to change the thread, for instance, to

use a thread of a different color, winding operations must be stopped. and then the thread in use is cut and replaced with the new thread, these-threads being tied together by Clutches 23 and 23 are respectively operated --by levers 43 and I2. levers are interconnected by ii, bell crank II and link u, said link 46 being connectedto operate 41.

portion of column a has advanced to a point beneath pointer 5|, the operator stops the machine and replaces the blue thread with a green thread, and then the winding is continued until the remainder of column a has passed beneath the indicator 5|. I

At this time, the clutch 29 is disengaged to allow the cylinder 32 and design sheet 32a to reversely rotate to starting position (Fig. 10) and also allow the cylinder and sheet to advance axially of shaft 30 until the lower edge of the succeeding column b is disposed beneath indicator ll. Then the bars l3 having blue and green threads wound thereon are replaced by empty bars 13. A similar winding operation is then repeated. Since the lower portion of the column b is green, a change in the thread color is not necessary until the upper blue portion of column b has advanced beneath the indicator. The same operations are repeated forsuccessive columns until the entire pile design has been wound. The movement of the chart 32a is synchronized with the winding apparatus and thus furnishes a visual guide to the operator so that the necessary thread changes can be made a the proper time and the progress of winding the pile design can be ascertained at a glance. The same operations are repeated for the second column, and

soon.

After the threads have been wound around the bars for the whole design, the bars are set on edges in parallel as shown in Figs. 15 and 16, so that the threads present the reverse design, and are put in a frame 53 and tightened by inserting filling '0.

and cuttingvthe threads halfway between the fabric with the Same design as the original can be manufactured.

According to this invention, it is possible also to manufacture two sheets of carpet simultanel0 ously by threads around each barand setting up the bars in parallel and pasting linings on both faces of 'the threadsaround the bars.

linings. I

What Ivclaim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows: 1. In a machine for the manufacture of pile fabric, spaced rotatably aligned supports, a bar detachably and slidabl'y mounted in said sup 20 ports for movement along the longitudinal axes 3 of the supports, said bar also being rotatable with the supports, means-for guiding a thread onto said bar at a point between said spaced supports, means for movingsaid bar axially of said point, means for rotating said support and said bar during said last named axial move ment, an oscillatably mounted cylinder for supporting a design sheet, said supported sheet having circumferentially extending parallel columns thereon representin a design to be reproduced, a stationary indicator disposed adjacent said supported sheet, means for moving one of said columns longitudinally past said'ln- 35 means for axially advancing, said arbor'past said dicator during the forward oscillation of said cylinder and means for axially advancing said cylinder during the successive revers oscillation to position the succeeding column adjacent said said indicator. a rotary arbor upon which a said design will be indicated on ad sheet by said indicator.

' 2. A pattern mechanism for manufacturing pile tufting, the combination oi an omillatably mounted cylinderfor supporting a design sheet,

said supported sheet having circumferentially extending columns thereon representing a pile design to be reproduced, a stationary indicator disposed adjacent said supported sheet, means for moving one of, said columns longitudinally past said indicator during each oscillation of said cylinder in one direction, means tor axially advancing said cylinder during each oscillation of said cylinder in the opposite direction to thereby position succeeding columns adjacent thread is wound, a stationary guide for said thread, and means for axially advancing said arbor past said guide in timed relation to the first named direction of oscillation of said cyl-= inder and associated design. sheet.

3. In I an apparatus for manufacturing pile tufting, the combination of an oscillatably mounted cylinder for supporting a design sheet, said supported sheet having eircumferentially extending columns thereon representing a design to be reproduced, a stationary indicator disposed adjacent said supported sheet, means for moving one of said columns longitudinally past said indicator during the forward oscillation of said cylinder, means for axially advancing said cylinder during the succeeding reverse oscillation toposition a succeeding column adjacent said indicator, a rotary arbor upon which a thread is wound,a stationary guide for said thread, and

guide in timedv relation to the forward oscillation of said cylinder and associated design sheet.

GENKICHI 

